On the silver screen, psychological mystery thrillers – kinky or otherwise, whether major studio or independent – have always been popular, and the early-to-mid 1990s produced more than their fair share. For example, recognize the following: "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "Basic Instinct" (1992), "Jennifer Eight" (1992), "Sliver" (1993), "Color of Night" (1994), "Knight Moves" (1995), and "Copycat" (1995). In "Whispers in the Dark," Ann Hecker (Annabella Sciorra), who is ending her rocky relationship with her boyfriend Paul, practices as a psychiatrist in Manhattan. She is told by one of her patients, Eve Abergray (Deborah Unger) – attractive but sexually perverted – about her sexual sado-masochistic/bondage practices with her boyfriend. Ann seems to take it all in with high interest. As Ann seems turned on by her own dreams of sexual bondage, she consults with her former therapist (when she attended college) and friend Leo Green (Alan Alda). Another of Ann's patients, Latino Johnny Castillo (John Leguizano), a sadist, likes to paint sexual fantasies (as opposed to acting them out). Both Eve and Johnny are unbalanced, to say the least, and Ann does not seem to have solutions. On one of the office visits, Eve removes most of her clothing and masturbates in front of Ann. The bewildered psychiatrist can only ogle. Later on Johnny C. breaks into Ann's apartment and hogties her for a short time before freeing her and jumping outside her window ledge. Talk about being just a bit troubled!One day Ann sees airplane pilot Doug McDowell (Jamey Sheridan) on the elevator in her office building. Before long the two are dating, but Doug has some dark secrets. One of these is that he is Eve's sexual partner in bondage! When Eve discovers that Ann is dating Doug, she becomes intractable; she steals some files and tapes from Ann's office that she plans to use against the psychiatrist. When Eve is found dead, hanging nude, Ann's suspicions focus on Doug. Enter Detective Larry Morgenstern (Anthony LaPaglia). Morgenstern tries to get Ann to release her office files to him, but Ann will not agree. Nevertheless, Morgenstern is insistent and dogs Ann at every turn. He tells her that he has found the tapes that Eve had stolen. "Those tapes are my property. I'd like them back," she demands. "No! Material evidence in a murder investigation," sneers Morgenstern. After Johnny C. falls from the window ledge to his death, Ann seeks solace with Leo Green, as she did not realize that the sadistically deranged artist had previously tortured many women. "Oh come on," retorts Leo, "a bright psychopath can fool anybody." What! Later this line will make some sense. When Doug takes Ann to visit his mother, Mrs. McDowell, she tells Ann that Doug was once married. His wife Jenny hanged herself after sustaining severe depression. Doug admits that there was violence in the marriage: Jenny attacked him because of his affair with another. Shocked, Ann confides this information to Leo, who in turns relays it to Morgenstern. Ann is disappointed in Leo's action. Before that, Morgenstern had told Ann that as Johnny C.'s alibi checked out with regard to Eve's death, the unhinged artist could not have killed her. Right after Morgenstern is found dead in the airplane hangar of McDowell Aviation. Suspicions continue to focus on Doug. Meanwhile Ann has returned to get solace from Leo and his wife at the Nantucket seashore. There is no reason to expose the last one-fifth of the feature and major twist to the movie. But it can be stated confidentially that there is one turn too many.The main charters here – psychiatrists, patients, and police – are not particularly likable. But the movie features excellent performances by Alan Alda, Anthony La Paglia (the Italian Aussie), and Deborah Unger; Annabella Sciorra is good enough. Jamey Sheridan is hardly appealing: note his large head. Actually his character is quite dubious. The Manhattan camera-shooting is not really used to any specific advantage; there is an aerial shot of Nantucket. Although panned by critics, the feature is still nicely filmed and is attention-getting despite some script weaknesses and a ludicrous double-twisted ending. Just watch it for its entertainment value.

(Spoilers) I have to agree with all the negative analysis posted already. Saw this movie on cable last night and it was disappointing (but hey I watched the whole thing).First, it was obvious Alan Alda would be the killer. He was too interested in the psychiatrist and kept meddling in her life. But like every transition in this film, he was revealed in a totally heavy handed way. And how believable is it that he was totally obsessed with her for years, was killing people to protect her, and then when she says he is frightening her that is enough for him to instantly snap and try to kill her on the spot in a rage? Boy he sure got over that crush in a hurry! After committing all these clever crimes he admits to the murders in front of his wife and immediately smashes a wine bottle over her head. How was he going to deal with that? Also, she was such a poor psychiatrist, the best she could do was immediately reveal her revulsion and run away in fear? Not an ounce of cleverness in dealing with an obvious psycho who she knew was in love with her and who she could have manipulated.The way she discovers he is obsessed with her! He tells her to go in the music cabinet to put on a song and there he has his audio notes of all his sessions with her neatly labeled so that she, his wife, anyone, can pick it up and hear him saying he is obsessed with her. The tapes themselves were as corny and unbelievable as his coming back home and just hearing her playing them at full volume.When I say disjointed, the quirks of the detective, the female patient, the boyfriend are never explored they were just weird characters who didn't really fit in the movie. Were we supposed to care about Paglia's detective? Was he attracted to her? All of a sudden we're watching a troubled cop movie (briefly) as if this were a different movie.After Leguizamo obviously thought it was her behind the mirror (Paglia absurdly keeps showing her pictures through the glass and asking her rhetorical questions about psychoanalysis) they just let him go and surprise surprise, he next appears at her place to take revenge. And no one saw that coming? Then we have Leguizamo who has spent his life torturing women, has her tied up and he cant do a thing to her, suddenly we are supposed to sympathize with his troubled character and of course she is completely worried about a psycho who moments ago hog tied her.This is the kind of film that is so cheesy, so illogical, so obvious you really wish they would give you all these stars and a budget and let you make the film because yes most people would have insisted on doing a better job. This was a real waste of potential.Parting shot, the closing scene of her so happy with the boyfriend as if this were a happy ending to a romantic comedy, trivial fake conversation between two people with no chemistry, didn't even need to be in the film. The boyfriend wasn't an appealing character, was too old for her, and it was like saying hey if this movie wasn't corny enough, let's make you watch several minutes more of something pointless between two people who were never believable in their parts.

I think this movie was incredibly underrated. I thought there were many standout performances..Annabella Sciorra, Deborah Unger and Jamie Sheridan amongst others. Annabella Sciorra gives a beautifully sensitive performance. If you liked her in The Hand That Rocks The Cradle you will love her in this film. Deborah Unger is absolutely mesmerizing in her role. Her best performance ever. Jamie Sheridan is very credible as the romantic yet mysterious male lead. I thought it was beautifully directed and worked very well on many levels...suspenseful, sexy, dramatic. I thought the ending was totally unpredictable. For a 'small' film that most people have never heard of I think it was fantastic and would highly recommend it. I can never go past it when it is on cable. Must have seen in at least 15-20 times. Check it out!

This is actually a rather dull film for the most part---the red herrings are preposterous and uninteresting and the sexuality never goes beyond cheap titillation. It hints at more interesting things and nine times out of ten it punks out at exploring those intriguing themes, going for the cheap thrill every opportunity. And it's not that thrilling, period.But the ending is amazing. It kept me laughing for weeks after I'd seen the movie. So ludicrous and out of nowhere it comes off like a bad joke, or incomparable idiocy. It still makes me giggle every time I think about it. I can barely type right now.See this movie for the last thirty minutes. It's worth it.